Hedge fund Mason Capital Management yesterday vowed to appeal a Canadian court ruling that could thwart its effort to derail a share consolidation plan at telecommunications company Telus Corp.

The Supreme Court of British Columbia this week quashed Mason's plan to hold a shareholder meeting on the same day as one scheduled by Telus, ruling that Mason's plans were against the law. The court also upheld Telus' own plans to hold its meeting, on Oct. 17.

Telus plans to merge its voting and non-voting share classes in a one-for-one exchange that it claims is a matter of good corporate governance. Mason has argued that the plan is unfair to voting share owners, including itself, who paid more for that privilege than non-voting share owners.

New York-based Mason owns 19% of Telus' voting shares.

"We believe it is critical that the owners of the voting shares have the opportunity to vote on a binding change to the company's articles to establish an appropriate minimum premium to be paid in a dual class collapse transaction," the hedge fund said in a statement. "Mason will continue to oppose the actions of Telus aimed at unfairly taking value from the voting shareholders and transferring it to the non-voting shareholders, which include Telus' board of directors and executive management team, at a 1-for-1 exchange ratio."

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